ACTS 16:9,10: And during the night a vision appeared to Paul: a certain Mac‧e‧do′ni‧an man was standing and entreating him and saying: “Step over into Mac‧e‧do′ni‧a and help us.” Now as soon as he had seen the vision, we sought to go forth into Mac‧e‧do′ni‧a, drawing the conclusion that God had summoned us to declare the good news to them.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Blog, The Bag and Jenn

Yesterday afternoon we arrived safe and sound in Santiago. There we finally got to meet Jenn, a sister we have communicated with for a few months now by email. How we came to know her is to me an example of the unity and love that is common to the brotherhood. Several months ago while researching serving as a needgreater, I came across a fine website that proved very useful to our family as the sister who writes it has served in the DR before. I left a comment for her asking for some additional info about her time here in DR and what to expect when we got here.

Also reading the site was another sister Debra who was also planning to come serve in DR. Debra left a message and her email in the comments asking for us to contact her and we did so. We were able to "trade notes" so to speak about our plans, where we wanted to serve and our timetable and so forth. It was really encouraging being able to talk to another family with similar goals and to hear their enthusiasm for the ministry.

As it turns out Debra and her family we unable to leave for DR as soon as they had expected. She knew our family was coming this month and had a bag with some items for Jenn that she was planning to bring over but was now not going to be able due to the delay in her plans. Would we be able to bring it over for her she asked?

So, we got contact info for Jenn and talked to her on Skype. We got to know her a bit and agreed to bring her stuff to her and leave it at the Branch where she would later go to get it. As our trip got closer we began to talk to her more often. "How long have you known Debra?" we asked. "Well, I've actually never met her." Through mutual friends they were able to make contact and as Debra was coming to DR she agreed to bring Jenn's goods. That good deed now came to us.

We gave Debra our address and she mailed Jenn's stuff to us. We packed it all up and left on our trip. When we arrived in DR, we decided to venture out and see more of the island than we initially planned to. I know, I thought why not go to where Jenn is and visit her congregation? So we contacted her and she happens to be house sitting for another needgreater couple but was willing to have us come stay with her for a few days here in Santiago.

Us and Jenn

So, here we are in Santiago, Dominican Republic. A city we hadn't planned on going to staying in the home of people we don't know with a sister whom we just met. Only in Jehovah's organization!

Had the Theocratic School and Service meeting tonight along with a visit by the District overseer. He gave a very encouraging talk about maintaining zeal in the ministry and our joy. He brought out that Jehovah, and Jesus both demonstrate these qualities in their work and we were encouraged to continue zealously sounding the warning for us to not slow down in the preaching. The talk was given in Spanish and translated into English. Biggest surprise? I understood most of it without translation. It's about time, it only took 3 weeks :-)

About Me

In 2007 our family decided to start simplifying our lives in order to do more in Jehovah's service. That decision led us to set a goal to be self supporting missionaries or "needgreaters". We are sharing our experience so friends at home can keep up with us and perhaps as a way to encourage others who may be thinking of "reaching out" in support of Kingdom interests.